Commercial Property Loans for Owner-Occupiers and Investors
Commercial property finance
Oakwood Finance arranges commercial property loans for businesses buying or refinancing their own premises, and for investors buying property to lease to tenants. A lender may weigh the property, the lease or the occupier, and the structure that holds it, as heavily as the borrower. The lender assesses each application and makes the decision.
For business lending, working capital and acquisitions, see commercial finance; for projects sized off a feasibility, see property development finance.
What a broker does on a commercial property purchase
A commercial property purchase has more moving parts than a home purchase: a lease or an occupier, a different kind of valuation, and often a company, trust or super fund as the buyer rather than an individual. On these files our work is:
Confirming the purpose. We settle early whether the property is for your own business to occupy, for a tenant, or a mix of both, because it can change how a lender looks at the file and which lenders are worth approaching.
Presenting the property and the lease. We assemble the contract, the lease and the details of the tenant or occupier so the lender has what it needs to assess them, and we prepare you for the valuation the lender arranges.
Raising the structure early. We raise how the choice of entity (an individual, company, trust or super fund) can affect the lending before a contract is signed, and work alongside your accountant and solicitor, who advise on which suits you and on the tax and legal sides.
Preparing the application. We collect the financials for each entity, details of your ATO position and the supporting documents from you and your accountant, and lodge the application with the lender.
Staying with the file through to settlement. We are your point of contact with the lender while the finance condition, the valuation and the contract dates are worked through, and we raise anything the lender queries as it arises.
If you are weighing up a purchase or a refinance, speak to our team.
Key features
Owner-occupier or investment. Premises your business will occupy are commonly assessed on the business’s financials as well as the property. A building let to tenants is commonly assessed on the rent it earns and the strength of the lease. Many properties are a mix of both, and lenders can treat the mix differently.
Valuation basis. A lender usually arranges its own valuation, and the figure it relies on can differ from the contract price. An owner-occupied building may be valued for its use, a tenanted one on the income it produces, and specialised property can be harder to value.
Lease and tenant. For an investment property, a lender may look at the term remaining on the lease, the rent review provisions and who the tenant is. A lease to a related party, such as your own business, may be looked at more closely.
Deposit and equity. Lenders commonly expect a larger contribution than on a home purchase. It can come from cash, from equity in other property, or both, and the costs of buying sit on top of the price.
Structure and entity. The property can be held by an individual, a company, a trust or a self-managed super fund. That choice can affect who the lender assesses, what additional support it may ask for and how the lease is treated. Your accountant and solicitor advise on which suits you. For property bought inside super, see SMSF lending.
Considerations
Property type. Offices, retail, industrial and specialised property can be viewed differently, and some lenders will not consider certain property types or locations.
Your financials. Where the business will occupy the property, a lender may ask for financial statements for each entity involved and for details of your ATO position.
Personal liability and security. A lender may ask owners or directors to stand behind the loan personally and to offer other property as security, which puts assets beyond the one being bought at stake.
Contract conditions. Finance and valuation conditions can work differently on a commercial contract than on a home purchase, so have your solicitor review the contract and speak with us before you sign.
Total cost. Look at the interest rate and the fees together, and allow for valuation and legal costs as well, because all of them add to the total cost of borrowing.
How We Have Structured It
Scenario 01 · Multi-state developer
One developer, several states, several sets of council expectations
Funding $4m–$8m per project · Structure Four projects, four states · Timeframe Concurrent pipeline
The situation. A developer running concurrent projects in multiple states, ranging from single dwellings up to ten-unit sites.
The complication. Approvals are not consistent across jurisdictions, and development finance is written against approvals. Council requirements, planning timeframes, presale expectations and construction standards all differ by state — and lender credit policy differs again on top of that. A structure that clears comfortably in one state can stall in another for reasons that have nothing to do with the developer.
What we did. Matched each project to lenders genuinely comfortable with that jurisdiction and that project scale, rather than running every deal to a single relationship and absorbing the delays. We kept the developer’s complete position — assets, equity, completed projects, pipeline — in front of every credit team, so each project was assessed against a track record rather than in isolation.
The outcome. Four concurrent projects across Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and New South Wales, each between $4 million and $8 million — ranging from single dwellings up to eight in Queensland, six in Western Australia, eight in South Australia and four in New South Wales.
Scenario 02 · Mixed-security development
One site, four product types, staged from first sod to sell-down
Funding $26 million · Structure Four staged drawdowns · Timeframe 16 months
The situation. A recent development combining penthouses, apartments, units and townhouses on a single site — eight dwellings delivered in stages.
The complication. Each product type is built differently, costs differently and finances differently. Townhouses complete and settle in sequence; apartments complete as a whole building; a penthouse carries its own valuation approach and a far narrower buyer pool. That means different construction methods, different progress-payment schedules and different security positions — all inside one project, all needing to satisfy one credit team.
What we did. Structured progressive funding tied to the actual construction stages rather than one facility drawn at commencement, so the debt tracked the build instead of running ahead of it. To reduce the owner’s exposure across the program, part of the project was sold down during construction — the sell-down and tax strategy set by the client’s own accountant and financial planner, the contracts handled by their lawyer. Our role was the funding: negotiating terms across multiple lenders and keeping the drawdown structure aligned to the staging as the project moved.
The outcome. Cash flow supported through the program and peak borrowings reduced against the original structure. A $26 million facility across four construction stages, over a 16-month program from commencement to sell-down. The facility covers land, construction and holding costs across all four product types, not construction alone.
Scenarios are drawn from transactions Oakwood Finance has assisted with. No client is named and identifying details have been removed or altered; figures describe those specific transactions. This is general information only — it is not credit assistance, a quote, or a recommendation, and no outcome is implied for any other client. Every structure depends on individual circumstances, lender credit policy and approval. Timeframes describe what happened on these specific files and are not a commitment. Oakwood Finance arranges finance; taxation, legal and financial advice is provided by appropriately licensed professionals, with whom we work.
This is part of our commercial finance range.